The Mirrored Gift
by Alex Angelline
Summary: 2 years pass since the geostigma disappeared. Cloud rebuilt his life, living at Seventh Heaven & understands Aerith's words. He meets Nata, a girl reflecting the Cetra's eyes. Chaos soon breaks & everything spirals. Will Cloud's new life spiral too?


"_Protect him...__Protect him with everything...__"_

_"__Protect...with everything... __But...__"_

_"__But what?__"_

_"__I'm scared__...afraid...__worried...__"_

_A light and kind laughter broke out._

_"__Scared? __Afraid?__ Worried?__Of what __Nata?"_

_Olive green eyes reflected in the pool of water.__ Her reflection bounded off the surface of the water. Her looks mirrored the __Cetra._

_A soft smile.__The __Cetra__ gave __Nata__ a __hug, tight enough for reassurance. Loose enough for comfort._

_"__Don'__t have any of those feelings__ Nata__. Don't worry. Don't be scared. Don't be afraid.__"_

_"__Okay__ Aerith._"

A cell phone rang. He paused to listen to the girl speaking on the other line.

"I'm taking off today." Pause.

"Yea. Yea. The whole week then." He waited. His hands resting upon his stark black bike. In the other hand was a cell phone he used for contact.

"Okay." He flipped the cell phone close, taking off the goggles he was using when he rode his bike. He shook his head to clear his spiky, blond hair from his face.

Sapphire Green eyes observed the building before him; Aerith's church.

It has only been two years since the Trio, Kadaj, Yazoo, and Loz, along with the geostigma had disappeared. The geostigma disappeared with the healing water from Aerith's Church and as for the Trio; He had defeated them, but not easily.

His hands rested on the door. It had been two years since he had last came to Aerith's Church. Somehow, for some strange reason, he had fought the urge to come ever since, but recently, there had been a strong pull that was stringing him in.

He let out a sigh as he walked into the church. The roof had collapsed years before and the strong sunlight had constantly flooded in.

His feet shuffled the ground as he took in the surrounding of the church. Everything seemed familiar and unfamiliar at the same time. His Sapphire Green eyes stopped and grew wide at the pool of water that had appeared two years ago. Except this time, there was a body lying by the edge of the pool.

A numb feeling shot throughout his body. He couldn't move his legs, couldn't even move at all.

Chestnut colored hair settled down the neck. The tips were wet and sticking to the body. Half the body was in the water and half on the edge. The face was turned away from him so it had no allowed him to take in the features of the face.

However he felt himself move when the body started slipping and submerging under water.

His legs pounded as he ran across the church and into the water, making a splash. He reached out for the body and wrapped his hands around the waist, to keep it from submerging. His hands kept the body afloat as he took in the features.

No doubt about it; it was a girl. Her skin was pale, but the chestnut colored hair stood out and her lips; they were cherry pink which meant only one thing. She wasn't dead.

His eyes widen as memories flashed before his eyes.

Aerith had just been killed by Sephiroth. He bought her to the pool of water. Her body floated upon the water before returning to the life stream.

He shook his head as the images disappeared from his eyes.

"Are you . . .?"

His attention whipped down to the girl before him. She was looking up at him from her lying down position. He continued to hold her up.

Sapphire Green met Olive eyes.

His eyes grew wide. He wanted to speak, but the throat constricted, withholding his voice.

"Aerith?" He managed to croak to a whisper.

Confusion and understanding appeared in her eyes and he knew it wasn't her.

She smiled kindly.

His heart lightened and crushed at the same time. Her smile was just like Aerith. So were her eyes, the color her hair, and the sweet and kind scent too.

She saw his Sapphire Green eyes move down and a light tint of red on his cheeks. His eyes shifted away as he slowly released her, so that her entire body was in the water. She felt something heavy underwater being placed around her shoulders. Olive green eyes looked up to see the slightly embarrassed boy.

"Come' on; I have some dry clothes back at the bar." He muttered as he helped her out of the pool.

They were both drenched wet from the water as they headed outside to his black bike.

Her eyes grew wide as she stopped upon seeing the bike. His hands paused at the start of the engine.

"What?" He asked. His voice was a bit annoyed, demanding and...hurt?

She shook her head. Water droplets dripped down from her hair.

He hesitated before he took any action, but he reached out a hand for her to take. She stared at it, before looking hard into his Sapphire Green. A few moments passed.

His eyes closed in relief as she took his hand and he pulled her onto the bike. She sat in front of him with the wet wool like cloth around her, hiding the naked skin of her body.

"Hold on." Her eyes grew wide in fear.

"What?" He clenched his teeth. The fear and tremble in her voice made him rise to a cold surface. Obviously her experience with people or, more likely, men was not a good one. Maybe that explained the hard stare. He thought.

"You don't want to fall off." He explained. "Hold on tight."

The engines roared and the stark black bike rushed off towards the unpaved road.

Somehow, at this moment, riding on the bike with this girl sitting in front of him with her hands wrapped tightly around his chest, felt right. This moment; maybe this was something new.

His eyes shifted down for a moment to the girl he had just found at Aerith's church. For the same exact moment, their eyes met before he paid attention to the dirt road.

And a small smile curved around his lips.


End file.
